Jainism is the ancient religion of
India and during its long and unbroken existence it is promulgated by 24
Great Preachers known as �Jinas� i.e. �Conquerors� or �Tirthankaras� i.e .
�Fordmakers across the stream of existence�. These 24 Tirthankaras are :

1. Rishabh-natha or Adinatha

2. Ajita-natha

3. Sambhava-natha

4. Abhinandana-natha

5. Sumati-natha

6. Padmaprabha

7. Suparshva-natha

8. Chandraprabha

9. Pushpadanta or Suvidhi-natha

10. Shital-natha

11. Shreyamsa-natha

12. Vasupujya

13. Vimala-natha

14.Ananta natha

15. Dharma-natha

16. Shanti-natha

17. Kunthu-natha

18. Ara-natha

19. Malli-natha

20. Muni-suvrata

21. Nami-natha

22. Nemi-natha

23.
Parshva-natha

24. Mahavira or
Vardhamana.

Thus the
tradition of Tirthankaras begins with Rishabha, the first Tirthankara, and
ends with Mahavira, the twentyfourth Tirthankara. Naturally, there is a
continuous link among these twenty-four Tirthankaras who flourished in
different periods of history in India . It therefore means that the
religion first preached by Rishabha in the remote past was preached by the
succession of remaining twenty-three Tirthankaras during their life-time
for the benefit of living beings. In view of this succession of
twenty-four Tirthankaras a well-knit continuity is maintained both in the
tenets and practices of Jaina religion. Since Mahavira is the
twenty-fourth Tirthankara in this line of Tirthankaras, he, by no means,
could be considered as the founder of Jaina religion. Hence Mahavira is
not the founder but the promulgator and great preacher of Jaina religion
during the sixth century B.C. As Mahavira happens to be the last
Tirthankara, he is regarded by the common people as the founder of Jaina
religion. It is obvious that this is a misconception. Now it has been an
accepted fact by the historians that Mahavira did not found Jaina religion
but he preached the religion which was in existence from the remote past.

2.Historicity
of the Jaina Tradition:

The
Historicity of this Jaina tradition is amply borne one both by literary
and archaeological evidences. By the beginning of the 20th century many
writers were under the impression that Maiaavira was an imaginary or
a legendary figure. Soon they realised that Mahavira was a historical
figure but they believed that Malaavira and Gautama Buddha are the two
names of the same person, viz. Gautama Buddha. Early researches in the
20th century dispelled this confusion about Mahavira and Gautama Buddha
and established a separate and different identity of Mahavira. In this way
though Mahavira's real and independent existence was accepted, still he
was regarded as the founder of Jaina religion and as the champion of
non-violence who revolted against the violent practices of Brahmanism. The
recent researches in historical and indological studies carried out by
Western and Oriental Scholars have removed beyond doubt the ideas of
former writers about the role of Mahavira and have now conclusively
established the fact that Mahavira is not the founder of Jaina religion
but the promulgator of Jaina religion which was in prevalence in India,
especially in Eastern India from the ancient past. This view is clearly
stated by P. C. Roy Chaudhury in his book `Jainism in Bihar' in the
following terms: "A common mistake has been made by some of the recent
writers in holding that Jainism was born because of discontent against
Erahmanism. This wrong theory originates because these writers have taken
Vardhamana Mahavira as thv founder of Jainism. This is not a
fact.............. The creed had already originated and spread and
Mahavira propagated it within historic times."

Thus it is
now an accepted fact that Mahavira is the Tirthankara or prophet of Jaina
religion and that he preached the religion which was promulgated in the
8th Century B.C. by his predecessor Parshvanatha, the 23rd Tirthankara.
The historicity of Parshvanatha
(877-777 B.C.) has been clearly established. Parshvanatha, the son of King
Vishvasena and Queen Vamadevi of Kingdom of Kashi, led the life of an
ascetic, practised severe penance, obtained omniscience, became a
Tirthankara, propagated Jaina religion and attained Nirvana or salvation
when he was 100 years of age at Sammet Shikhara, i.e. Parasnatha hill in
Hazaribag District of Bihar State. Parshavanatha often gets the epithet `a
lovable or genial personality'. His pupils like Kesikumara lived at the
time of Mahavira and held minor differences in dogmatic details though the
basic religious ideology was fundamentally the same as that of Mahavira.
Eminent historians like Vincent Smith, R.C. Majumdar, and R.K. Mookarji
regard Parshvanatha as a historical personage and a great preacher of
Jaina religion.

The
predecessor of Parshvanatha was Nemi-natha or Arishtanemi, the 22nd
Tirthankara and the historicity of Nemi-natha like that of Parshvanatha,
could be easily established. Nemx-natha was the real cousin of the famous
Lord Krishna of Mahabharata as Samudravijaya, the father -of Neini-natha, and
Vasudeva, the father of Krishna, were brothers. Nemi-natha possessed a
unique personality due to his great compassion towards animals. This is
clearly revealed by asignificant incident in his life. While Nemi-natha
was proceeding at the head of his wedding procession to the house of his
bride, Princess Rajulakumari, the daughter of King Ugrasena, he heard the
moans and groans of animals placed in an enclosure for some meat-eaters
and instantly decided not to marry at all as his marriage would involve
such a slaughter of so many innocent animals. Immediately Nemi-natha
renounced his royal title and became an ascetic. Leaving

this
renunciation of Nemi-natha, the betrothed princess Rajulakumari or
Rajamati also became a nun and entered the ascetic order. Nemi-natha
preached religion for several years and finally attained Nirvana on the
Mount Girnar, in Junagadha District of Gujrat State. As Nemi-natha
renounced the world, he did not take part in the fraternal struggle of
Malaabharata like his cousin brother Lord Krishna. Since this Great War of
Mahabharata has to be assumed as an historical event and Krishna to be an
historical personage, then his cousin brother Nemi-natha is also entitled
to have a place in this historical picture There is also an inscriptional
evidence to prove the historicity of Nemi-natha. Dr. Pran Nath published
in the "Times of India" (dated 19th March 1935) a copperplate grant of the
Babylonian King Nebuchadnazzar I (1140 B. C.) found at Prabhaspattan in
Gujrat State, which, according to his reading, refers to the Babylonian
King having come to Mount Revet to pay homage to Lord Nemi-rlatha.. Dr.
Fuherer also declared on the basis of Mathura Jaina antiquities that
Nemiriatha was an historical personage (vide Epigraphia Indica, I,and II,
208-210). Further, we find Nemi-natha's images of the Indo-Scythian period
bearing inscriptions mentioning his name. These and many other
inscriptions corroborate the historicity of 22nd Tirthankara Nemi-natha.

Among the
remaining 21 Tirth,ankaras of the Jaina tradition, there are several
references from different sources to the first Tirthankara Rishabhanatha
or Adinatha. Thus the tradition of twenty-four Tirthankaras is firmly
established among the Jainas and what is really remarkable about this
Jaina tradition is the confirmation of it from non-Jaina sources,
especially Buddhist and Hindu sources.